She has been considered by many as one of the most beautiful faces to have ever graced Indian cinema including Satyajit Ray who called her "the most beautiful face on the Indian screen".[9]
Jayaprada was born Lalitha Rani Rao in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh into a Telugu-speaking family. Her father, Krishna Rao, was a Telugu film financier. Her mother, Neelavani, was a home-maker. Lalitha attended a Telugu medium school in Rajahmundry and was also enrolled in dance and music classes at an early age.
When Jayaprada was a teenager, she performed a dance at her school's annual function. A film director in the audience offered her a three-minute dance number in the Telugu film Bhoomi Kosam (1974). She was hesitant, but her family encouraged her to accept it. She was paid only 10 rupees for her work in the film, but the rushes of those three minutes of film were shown to the major figures of the Telugu film industry. Major filmmakers offered her starring roles in quality films, and she accepted them. She became a huge star in 1976 with major hit films. Director K. Balachander's black-and-white film Anthuleni Katha (1976) showcased her dramatic skills; K. Viswanath's colour film Siri Siri Muvva (1976) showed her playing a mute girl with excellent dancing skills; and her title role as Sita in the big-budget mythological film Seetha Kalyanam (1976) confirmed her versatility. In 1977, she starred in Adavi Ramudu, which broke box office records and which permanently cemented her star status.[10] The song "Aaresukoboyi Paresukunnanu" performed by Prada and co-star N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) became a mass hit. Important filmmakers were casting her and repeating her in their films. Filmmaker Vijay introduced her to Kannada cinema in his 1977 super-hit movie Sanaadi Appanna alongside Kannada matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar. The movie is also known to be the only movie to feature shehnai rendition by Ustad Bismillah Khan. She further acted with the Kannada matinee idol in super hits like Kaviratna Kalidasa in 1983 and Shabdavedhi in 2000.
Jayaprada made a successful team not just with Amitabh Bachchan and Jeetendra, but also with her immediate screen rival Sridevi, with whom she has acted in about a dozen films. Their hit Telugu film Devatha (1982), where they played sisters who made huge sacrifices for each other, was remade into the hit Hindi film Tohfa (1984). These films endeared Jayaprada to the traditional conservative section of film goers and she amassed a huge female fan following as well. It was an image that would serve her well when she started a new career as a politician. In 1985, she acted in the Malayalam film Iniyum Kadha Thudarum directed by Joshiy starring Mammootty, Baby Shalini and Ambika.
Jayaprada at the launch of T P Aggarwal's trade magazine Blockbuster
Jayaprada continued to act as a heroine mainly opposite Amitabh and Jeetendra during the early 1990s. She also acted in some significant Kannada films as the heroine. From 1994 onwards, she cut back on film assignments and got more involved with a political career on call by her co-star NTR.
In 2000, she acted in the Malayalam film Devadoothan, starring Mohanlal, directed by Sibi Malayil. The film garnered immensely popular reviews from the critics but failed at the box office. But it met with great appreciation from the audience when released in Home Media and when aired on television. his movie had evergreen hit songs. She also starred for the last time, opposite Kannada super star Dr. Rajkumar in Shabdavedi. In 2002, she stepped into the Marathi film industry by being a guest in the movie Aadhaar.[13] Thus far, she has acted in eight languages and has completed 300 films during a 30-year film career. In 2004, she acted in Ee Snehatheerathu, a Malayalam film as Kunchacko Boban's mother. She started playing mature roles.
She also owns the Jayaprada Theater in Chennai.[14]
In 2011, she returned to Malayalam cinema with a strong role in Pranayam, alongside Mohanlal and Anupam Kher. She played "Grace" in this film, which won her critical acclaim and several awards.[15] Her 2012 Kannada film Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna that saw her donning the historical role of courageous Kittur Chennamma, completed 100 days at the box office.
On 22 February 1986, she married producer Srikanth Nahata, who was already married to Chandra and had two children.[16] This marriage stirred a lot of controversy, especially since Nahata did not divorce his wife and had a child with his first wife after marrying Jayaprada.[16]
Jayaprada joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1994 at the invitation of its founder N. T. Rama Rao, on the eve of the assembly elections, and rose quickly through the ranks. At that time there was speculation that she would run for election, but she preferred not to make her electoral debut, although she was offered a seat by Rao.
She campaigned in several constituencies in 1994.[17] When Rao became the Chief minister in 1994, he appointed one of his sons-in-law Nara Chandrababu Naidu as the Revenue Minister. After Lakshmi Parvati, wife of NTR started interfering in politics several tdp leaders revolted against NTR. When all TDP leaders have met in Viceroy hotel, NTR went to convince them along with Lakshmi Parvati, which ended up tdp leaders throwing slippers on Lakshmi Parvati and NTR went between, followed by Avisvasa terminal NTR was thrown out of power. Since most of the legislators had gone over to his side, the Anti Defection Law did not apply and the Telugu Desam Party label passed on to the Chandrababu Naidu side. During this period, Prada too joined the Chandrababu Naidu party. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha representing Andhra Pradesh in 1996. She also held the post of Telugu Mahila President.
Following differences with party Supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, she left the TDP to join Samajwadi Party. She contested from Rampur parliamentary Constituency in UP during the 2004 General election and got elected with a margin of more than 85000 votes. During her campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, she was issued a notice by the Election Commission for violating the code of conduct by distributing bindis to women in Rampur's Swar locality.[18] On 11 May 2009, Jayaprada alleged that senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was distributing nude pictures of her.[19] She was re-elected with a margin of more than 30,000 votes.[citation needed]
After she came out in open support of the former General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh, Prada was expelled from the party on 2 February 2010 for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities and damaging the party's secular image.[20] Amar Singh, along with Jayaprada floated his own political party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and fielded candidates in 360 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2012 assembly polls. However, his party did not win a single seat in these elections. Later she, along with Amar Singh joined the RLD on 10 March 2014[21] and after that she got the ticket to contest from the Bijnor seat in the 2014 general elections.[22][23] She, however, lost the election.[24][25]
Jayaprada is regarded as one of the greatest and most beautiful actors of Indian cinema.[26] Indian director Satyajit Ray described her as one of the prettiest women in the world.[27] Although she has acted in Bengali films, she has never worked for Ray. (She claimed that Ray had her in mind for a film, but his illness and subsequent death prevented their collaboration).[28]
In 2022, she was placed in Outlook India's "75 Best Bollywood Actresses" list.[29] One of the highest paid actress of 1980s and 1990s, both in Hindi and Telugu films, Jayaprada appeared in Box Office India's "Top Actresses" list from 1984 to 1991.[30]
Writing for Filmfare, Devesh Sharma termed her as one of the "top commercial actresses" of her era.[31] On her Hindi debut he added, "Jaya Prada became an overnight sensation after the release of Sargam. Her classical beauty got compared to Ajanta statues. She bedazzled the Hindi film audience with her classical-based dances."[32] Neeraja Murthy of The Hindu noted, "For over four decades, Jaya Prada has been the quintessential glamourous [sic] star setting hearts aflutter on screen."[33] Nibandh Vinod of News18 noted, "Jaya Prada, ruled the industry with her charm, graceful dance skills and nuanced acting chops."[34] Filmmaker Satyajit Ray called Jayaprada as "the most beautiful face on the Indian screen".[9] In the 2019 biopic film NTR: Kathanayakudu, actress Hansika Motwani portrayed Jaya Prada onscreen.[35]
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